Theresa May eyes educational cooperation with China

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Landing in central China’s Wuhan for her first visit to China as British prime minister on Wednesday morning, Theresa May was eyeing big in educational cooperation between China and the UK.

The prime minister told reporters aboard the Royal Air Force jet she will announce education deals worth half a billion pounds in the central Chinese city, Reuters has reported.

British Prime Minister Theresa May attends an event at Wuhan University in Wuhan, Hubei Province. /VCG Photo

A sizable number of educational firms and universities such as the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), the representative organisation for the UK's universities Universities UK, the University of Manchester and kindergarten chain Busy Bees are part of the delegation accompanying May to China.

After landing in the city, May visited Wuhan University, where she attended an exhibition on education and cultural exchanges between China and Britain. She also attended the "UK-China Spirit of Youth Festival".

British Prime Minister Theresa May enjoys Peking Opera inside the Yellow Crane Tower. /VCG Photo‍

The prime minister also visited Huanghelou, or the “Yellow Crane Tower”, a well-known historical site and one of the city's famous landmarks.

The five-story structure is located on top of the Sheshan Mountain, along the Yangtze River. Visitors could see where the Hanjiang River and the Yangtze River converge, surrounded by historical sites and beautiful natural scenery.

A view from the Yellow Crane Tower. /VCG Photo

The tower could be traced back to the Three Kingdoms (around 223 AD), but it has been destroyed and reconstructed or renovated time and again since then. The present structure was built in 1981 based on a design from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and was completed in 1985.

For over 1,700 years, the tower has attracted quite a number of literary masters, with hundreds of poems and essays extolling its grandeur and beauty. Cui Hao is one of those who eulogized the beauty of the Yellow Crane Tower. The poet from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) wrote a poem bearing the tower's name.

CGTN Photo‍

May also enjoyed Peking Opera on the tower.

The British prime minister started her three-day official visit to China on Wednesday morning. Wuhan, Beijing and Shanghai are the three legs of her trip in the country.

May will also co-host the bilateral annual prime ministerial meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing.

CGTN Photo‍

This is May's first official trip to China since she became prime minister in July 2016. She visited China in September 2016 to attend the G20 Summit in the eastern city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.